A federal crackdown on the black-market trade of opioids in the United States increases compliance-related risks for financial institutions that maintain accounts for chemical manufacturers and distributors, say sources. On Nov. 9, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration moved to classify certain opioids with a chemical structure akin to fentanyl's under the same category as heroin, marijuana and peyote amid an epidemic that claimed an estimated 40,000 lives in the United States in the year up to April 2016. According to Daniel Wager, former director of the New York High Intensity Financial Crime Area, or HIFCA, the new DEA policy affords...
Bankers and other financial services professionals have a role to play in tackling the epidemic of prescription-based opioid abuse in the United States, current and former law enforcement officials say.
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